Peppermint Soda

French with English sub-titles.

The trouble with French coming-of-age drama is, it's just so damn good you can't help but watch it over and over. Take this beautifully crafted journey through the life of 1960s pubescent life as a fine example.

In the fall of 1963, Anne is becoming a teenager. She lives in Paris with her mother and her older sister, Frédérique. They're just back from summer at the beach with their father. School starts. For Frédérique it's the year of her first serious love, her first foray into politics (the Algerian question and "ban the bomb"), her first kiss from an older man, her first friend who runs away, and her first loss of friendship over values. For Anne, who watches her sister closely, it's a year of her first period and of learning to talk to boys, dealing with unfair teachers, and sorting things out with mom after getting in trouble.

With English subtitles, but it's just as enchanting with them turned off!